Academic dishonesty in distance education courses: a quasi-experimental study

This research study focuses on the growing concern of academic misconduct in distance education courses. A quasi-experimental study was conducted to measure the impact of introducing webcam recording software as an online supervision tool for high-stakes exams in two separate online courses (Management and Accounting). Results revealed that overall performance decreased following implementation of the software, and persisted after taking potential confounding factors into account. Additionally, the explanatory power of the regression analysis was higher for scores under supervision, which suggests that cheating was occurring before online supervision was introduced. It can be concluded from this study that online supervision is an effective tool to combat academic dishonesty in distance education courses

Effectiveness of Google Classroom: Teachers’ Perceptions

Technology has gained importance in all stages of education yet educators have been unable to figure out which of the many available technological tools best fit their classroom practices. Google Classroom is one such tool that is free of cost and has gained popularity within a short span of time. The main purpose of the study is to assess teachers’ perception on the effectiveness of Google Classroom. The study is carried out through a qualitative research design. The sample of the study, which uses semi-structured interview method, consists of 12 higher education teachers who have implemented Google Classroom for at least one semester in their classroom. The data acquired has been put through a comprehensive analysis by coding and categorizing the data through NVivo. Findings revealed that teachers perceive it as only a facilitation tool that can be used for document management and basic classroom management, without having a significant impact on teaching methodologies. The responses of the teachers indicate that lack of user-friendly interface is the main reason for its inefficiency. Further studies can be conducted by taking the students’ perspective into account. Key words: Educational technology, Google Classroom, Integrating technology, Virtual Classroom

Effectiveness of Google Classroom: Teachers’ Perceptions

Technology has gained importance in all stages of education yet educators have been unable to figure out which of the many available technological tools best fit their classroom practices. Google Classroom is one such tool that is free of cost and has gained popularity within a short span of time. The main purpose of the study is to assess teachers’ perception on the effectiveness of Google Classroom. The study is carried out through a qualitative research design. The sample of the study, which uses semi-structured interview method, consists of 12 higher education teachers who have implemented Google Classroom for at least one semester in their classroom. The data acquired has been put through a comprehensive analysis by coding and categorizing the data through NVivo. Findings revealed that teachers perceive it as only a facilitation tool that can be used for document management and basic classroom management, without having a significant impact on teaching methodologies. The responses of the teachers indicate that lack of user-friendly interface is the main reason for its inefficiency. Further studies can be conducted by taking the students’ perspective into account. Key words: Educational technology, Google Classroom, Integrating technology, Virtual Classroom

Identification of the likely orthologues of RCD1 within the plant family Brassicaceae

RCD1, Radical-induced Cell Death 1, is a signal transduction factor binding protein that gateways a myriad of developmental and stress-related pathways. It was first reported in the wild plant A. thaliana. Brassica napus is a cultivated member of the family Brassicaceae, in which the presence of this gene was reported. Using the homology data of these two family-related species, gene for this protein was mined within the genomes of Brassica carinata, Brassica juncea and Brassica oleracea, using sets of degenerate primers designed on homologous portions of the A. thaliana and B. napus orthologues. The newly identified sequences were then compared and studied using in-silico means and their 3D structures were modelled for having an estimate on their functions. Results demonstrate intergeneric conservation of this protein’s domains on structural and functional levels. The newly found orthologues show potential to be regulated under salinity and oxidative stresses apart from being involved in several developmental stages. These homologues are in-stable in-vivo and bear motifs for binding a wide-variety of transcription factors. The structure superimposition studies suggest that these Brassica orthologues bear the WWE domains having transferase activity, the fact that can dramatically increase the survival of these agriculturally important crop plants amid the adverse environmental conditions. Keywords: RCD1, SRO, PARP, WWE, RST, de-novo gene finding

Relationship of Age, BMI, Serum Calcium and Estradiol with BMD in Postmenopausal Osteoporotic Females

Introduction: The current study was designed to investigate the relationship of age, body mass index (BMI), serum calcium and estradiol with bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal females with and without osteoporosis. Subjects & Methods: One hundred females were included in this study and were divided into two groups (fifty in each group): postmenopausal females without osteoporosis (age: 54.36 ± 0.51 yrs) and postmenopausal females with osteoporosis (age: 59.92 ± 0.68 yrs). BMD assessment was done on calcaneous by peripheral ultrasound bone densitometry and T scores were calculated. Serum estradiol was measured by ELIZA and calcium levels were determined by using spectrophotometric kit. Results: BMD was significantly lower in postmenopausal osteoporotic females as compared to postmenopausal non-osteoporotic females which indicated increased bone loss in osteoporotic group. Serum calcium levels were significantly lower in postmenopausal females with osteoporosis (8.73 ± 0.08) as compared to postmenopausal females without osteoporosis (9.04 ± 0.09). BMD was correlated with body weight ( r= 0.50, p<0.05; r= 0.45, p<0.05) and BMI (r=0.61, p<0.01; r= 0.31, p<0.05) in both groups. Negative correlation of BMD was found with age (r= -0.67, p<0.01r= -0.57, p<0.05) and calcium (r= -0.44, p<0.05; r= -0.38, p<0.05) in postmenopausal females with and without osteoporosis respectively. Osteopenia was detected in postmenopausal females without osteoporosis. Conclusion: It is concluded that increasing age, low body weight, low BMI, and low BMD are few of the contributing factors to osteoporosi

Attitudes of Islamic Learning and Education Faculty Students towards English Language at Karachi University

The research paper aims at studying the attitudes of the students of Islamic Learning and Education Faculty towards English at the University of Karachi. It is based on testing the hypothesis that the students of Islamic Learning Faculty have less positive attitudes towards English as compared to the students of Education faculty through a survey on first year students of both faculties. A five-point Likert scale was used to conduct a survey on 151 students of the Islamic Learning faculty and 135 students of the Education faculty. The results were calculated using an independent t-testand standard deviation which reveals that there is a minor difference in the attitudes of thestudent of both faculties. The students of the Education faculty showed more positive attitudes when asked about the importance of English as compared to the attitudes of the students of Islamic Learning Faculty. However, the difference in their attitude is negligible. As the results reveal a minor association between the attitudes of the learners and their faculty, the study; therefore, proves the null hypothesiswhich says that there is no significant difference between the attitudes of the students of both the faculties. Keywords: attitudes; English language; t-test; standard deviation; Islamic learning faculty; education faculty; likert-scale

Do I Talk Too Much in Class? A Quantitative Analysis of ESL Classroom Interaction

Teacher-learner interaction in the classroom is dictated by how well the teacher manages classroom talk-time which has a direct influence on learner achievement in an ESL Classroom. Teachers often perceive that they allocate enough time for student talk time; however, the past literature suggests that teacher talk-time takes around 70-75% of overall time in the class. The purpose of this study is to analyze the TTT (Teacher Talk-Time) in the context of ESL classroom in Pakistan. Convenience based sampling was used to assess the Teacher Talk-Time through observational method. Findings of 12 sessions (30-hours) showed that average Teacher Talk-Time was 65% of the total classroom time. The study highlights that ESL teachers need to improve the Learner Talk-Time (LTT) as the analysis showed that on average each student only gets 22 seconds of talk-time in an ESL class. A blended learning model can help ESL teachers to eliminate some of the talk-time and engage learners with meaningful activities that encourage classroom interaction in the target language

Sickness in Small-Scale Industries in South Punjab: Hurdles & Remedies: A Study of Bahawalpur Estate Area, Pakistan

This study was based on in-depth exploratory investigation of Bahawalpur (Pakistan) industrial estate area to find out the internal and external root causes of sickness in small industries and their solutions. Ashraf et al.(2012) noticed reasons of meager performance of small firms as lack of managerial knowledge, high rate of interest on loans, heavy taxation,  poor government policies, owner’s education level and use of outdated technology, that’s why the most of small units have poor success and growth.  Shukla (1993) and Reddy et al. (1988) found the causes of sickness in Small Scale industry which  were generally related to production, finance, environmental,  management and  marketing  factors.  Collection of data was executed through both primary and secondary sources. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods had been used for the study. Data was primarily collected through structured questionnaires as well as interviews of owners/managers of small industrial units at Bahawalpur industrial estate area. SPSS software was used to analyze the data.  In this study we found that 76.9% units were facing energy crisis and almost all the units were also facing high Mark-up problem and Inflation problem. Other obstructions that units were facing comprising the high level of taxation, lack of education, difficulty in accessing credit, lack of market information, lack of management skills etc. which leads to low level of production and unemployment etc. Keywords: Industrial obstructions, Remedies, low productio

Discourse and Power Relations: A Critical Discourse Analysis of a Pakistani Talk Show

The paper aims at studying the ways power and inequality are enacted in a Pakistani talk show aired on Capital TV on 14th August 2019. The research primarily focused on analyzing turn-taking patterns of the discussion held between the host of the program and three guests. The analysis revealed the unequal distribution of turns implying the unequal distribution of power between the host and guests as well as between the guests. The host of the program through her discourse asserted power as she was the one to control the topic of discussion throughout the program. Her power can be attributed to the power of media. Besides, one of the guest speakers, Jawwad asserted his power through his knowledge. The female speaker did not have enough representation and was not given enough chance to share her views, therefore, it can be concluded that gender was another element that played an important part in forming the power relations in the discussion that was observed.Keywords: Critical Discourse Analysis, Discourse Power Relations, Media Discourse and Talk Shows, Turn-takin